Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Lemon Lavender’s life isn’t going so well. Her perfect sister dropped out of college and ran away to Europe leaving their mother in a zombie like state and their father in a constant angry mood who will take every opportunity to lecture Lemon about responsibility.
In between taking care of her mother and avoiding her father’s wrath Lemon is trying to remain invisible at school. However, that’s extremely hard with a name like Lemon Lavender. When Graham Stuart starts at her school and starts to show an interest in her Lemon finally feels like things are looking up for her.
Lemon falls hard for Graham, but she isn’t the only one. Graham’s most ardent admirer makes it very clear that Lemon needs to back off or risk being the subject of a vicious gossip vlog. Lemon tries to lay low, keeping her newfound relationship with Graham a secret Lemon finds her world quickly falling apart. With vicious rumours now circulating the school Lemon finds herself in the spotlight that shreds her reputation. Her relationships are crumbling around her and Lemon has never felt more alone.
Lemon has to find her voice and fight back but only if she’s ready to step out of the shadows that have become her best friend.
I did enjoy this book and found it difficult to put down. I wanted to know how Lemon’s story played out. Whilst I was disappointed in how everything panned out I did feel incredibly emotionally connected to Lemon. Her life is in shambles and she’s just trying to be a normal teenage girl. She wants to go out, she wants to fall in love and most of all she just wants to be herself even if she isn’t quite sure of who that is yet.
Instead, Lemon is thrust into a lifestyle which no teenager should have to experience. She’s become the mother of the house and instead of having fun and focusing on her future she’s cleaning, cooking and looking after her mother. My heart honestly broke for Lemon so many times in this book and I found myself constantly rooting for her.
My biggest problem with this book is that I feel like this book is very much focusing on victim blaming. Lemon is constantly being made to think that everything that has happened is her fault.
The Lavender’s are falling apart, and Lemon is doing everything she can to keep the family together but instead of being praised for how hard she’s works she is criticised and berated for not being the perfect daughter. She’s the victim of bullying and yet the school is quick to ignore that and instead criticise her for lashing out. There were no repercussions for the actions of the bullies and instead it was all just brushed under the rug.
There is no support for Lemon in this book and her best friend is even quick to turn her back on her, telling her to man up and ignore it all. Her family couldn’t care less and even after they are made aware of the vandalism that Lemon suffered it’s completely ignored. I don’t know if that’s because of her the Lavender family react in situations they can’t control but it’s not the best message to put across to young adults who themselves may be the victims of cyber bullying.
Overall it was a good read and whilst it shows the impact cyber bullying has in the real world, I really do think it could have been handled differently.
Rating: 2/5 stars
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